Full Sail LTD 02

The week starts with a special offering from Full Sail Brewing out of Hood River, Oregon. They're known for making pretty solid beers and I'm a HUGE fan of their Session beer which is exactly what its name says it is. Lately they've started to release a limited series of beers Each beer a special one time only recipe (sound familiar?). Now these aren't necessarily extreme beers, just good solid ones. The O2 LTD is a limited edition lager made with Saaz hops, Viennese malts. wheat malts and caramel malts.
The Beer: This one weighs in at a slightly high 6.4% and pours a nice clear copper color with a thick off white head. The nose is roasty Viennese malts. Rich and caramel-y on the nose with slight coppery notes. On the mouth its rich, tasty, malty, slightly sweet of caramel. Light notes of honey and molasses. A good solid beer almost like a bock. Smooth and crisp. The only turn off here is that its a little sweet for me. Regardless this one gets a solid B from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

International Brewer's Day

July 18th, today has been decreed to be International Brewer's day. An unofficial (and hopefully some day soon official) holiday to celebrate those great and wonderful artists that create the drink we love and are so passionate about. International Brewers Day (henceforth IBD) is the brain child of Jay Brookston. This day is used to celebrate brewer's and the idea is for beer bloggers like me and many others to participate by profiling, interviewing, talking about, etc brewers. July 18th was chosen as the date because its the feast day for Saint Arnold of Metz, the patron saint of brewers. If you want more information head over to the IBD's website.
When I first heard about this, I got really excited because I thought it would be a great excuse to get to know a local brewer a little better and to write about the beer he creates and that I enjoy so much, it also didn't help the date for this was July 18th.
It should be obvious by now that I'm profiling Saint Arnold Brewing Company and specifically its owner Brock Wagner. With it being the local brewery in Houston (for a while the only one in the area) I've written a lot about Saint Arnolds in the past couple of years on the blog. For good reason, they are a great brewery and more important good folks.
Let me start by giving folks a little background on how I became introduced to their beer. I went to school in Louisiana where I drank mostly Shiner and Abita,both good solid beers. When I moved to Houston I was trying to find a good local beer, and one day my then girlfriend (now wife) took me to the Saturday tour at Saint Arnold's. I was instantly hooked. The atmosphere at these tastings is amazing. Everyone standing in line for the free beer, then sitting down communal style on these long long benches, talking not only with your own group but everyone around you sharing experiences, and of course food, food that you've brought from home, from the grocery store, or pizza place etc. It's one big family atmosphere. I thought to myself then that this was a pretty cool deal. Well needless to say I've been back numerous times even in the heat of the summer (no AC!!!!).
Another neat thing about the tour is looking at the wall by the long bar and seeing all these letters of thanks from different organizations that Saint Arnold's has helped in some way. They really care about the community there as do many small craft brewers which is one more reason why these folks mean so much to us. Needless to say I think Saint Arnold's is a top notch company so I really wanted to be able to sit down and do an interview with Brock. I'm happy to say that while I didn't have the time to sit down with Brock he was gracious enough to answer numerous questions via email....so with out further ado.
A little introduction to Brock first. He went to college at Rice University here in Houston and got into home brewing during his stay. Once he graduated he stayed in Houston and worked as a financial analyst doing corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions, primarily in the oil service industry. At some point his work was getting in the way of his homebrewing and as he says "one of them had to go." Lucky for us kept brewing beer. So time for some questions:
You chose the name Saint Arnold's to celebrate the patron Saint of Brewing correct?
Yes

What got you into Homebrewing in the first place?
The RA in my college at Rice (who also plays trumpet in the Houston Symphony) introduced me to homebrewing. I'd go over to DeFalco's (then next door to the GingerMan) and get my supplies and brew in the dorm.

Whats the most unexpected thing you have noticed being a brewer?
The way women throw themselves at you. That was a joke. The lack of control we have over the selling process. We control brewing the beer, but once it leaves the brewery, it is a challenge to control the process from then on. We work hard trying to do so.

Whats the hardest thing?
Getting people to be aware of us. As a craft brewer, we don't have the money to advertise and our customers don't really seek out beers that way. The result is the only way to make people aware of us is word-of-mouth. This takes years, which is why the first 10 years are such a challenge for most small brewers.

Whats the funnest thing about being a brewer?
Making beer. Really! At the end of the day, drinking exactly the beer that you want, and you made it to boot, is really satisfying. Now for funniest:
Beer is every-man's drink. There are no affectations surrounding it (or at least there shouldn't be.) As a result, people feel a strong connection to our brewery and that we are part of their lives. This leads people to tell you very funny and sometimes personal stories about Saint Arnold drinking experiences. Some of them fall under the "too much information" category!

One of the really great things about Saint Arnold's is its community involvement. I love going to the brewery and checking out the wall with all of the letters of thanks from the folks that you've helped. From working with the Elissa Project to Buffalo Bayou, you do a lot for the city, why go to all the effort? Do you have a favorite causes? Do you have plans to support any other big causes?
I believe strongly in the community, and in order for the community to be strong, people and businesses need to be involved. We probably do more than we should, but it makes us feel good, so why not? Usually our process is that we look to get involved in things that we like, and then we try to come up with a business rationale. If we succeed (even if it's a stretch), we do it. We plan on doing more things with the Orange Show, partially to support that organization, but more than anything, to make sure that the Art Car Parade is financially healthy. That is a Houston institution that is quite expensive to put on and, surprisingly, doesn't get much support from the City.

So how have those Saturday sessions evolved, from way back in 1994 to now?
They started with 10 to 25 people for the first couple of years. It took about six years to get up to 50 people, then they started exploding. We had over 600 people here last Saturday, and it was hotter than Hades!

I love your every day beers, but your Divine Series is otherwordly, how did the decision to make more extreme beers come about? I know some are made by homebrewers, but what about others?
We just wanted to have fun and brew some beers that we really wanted to make but wasn't sure how large the audience would be for them. Pretty much all of the recipes for our beers are mine, but with the Divine Reserves, the guys here compete to come up with a recipe that we decide to brew up. We don't publicize whose recipe it is, but everybody here knows. For example, when Divine Reserve No. 4 won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup this year, Vince was as giddy as a school girl. Every year one of the Divine Reserve recipes comes from the winner of the Big Batch Brew Bash. That homebrew does get a lot of publicity for winning the competition and having this beer brewed. Also, we enter that beer in the Pro-Am category at the Great American Beer Festival.
You've recently bought new property closer to downtown. Why that property? Was it the location? Size? Price? Or a combination of all three?
It was all three. I wanted to locate the brewery close to town, preferred an older building that had some character, and we were able to afford (sort of) this location.
Besides the obvious expansion to capabilities what other things will having this new place bring?Air-conditioned space for the tours! And more bathrooms. I know it's goofy, but actually owning a place gives a certain feeling of permanence and a greater connection to the city as well.

Any plans to go outside of Texas? Why or why not?
Not at the moment, but I don't rule it out as a possibility. Traditionally beer has been local. It is best when it is fresh. It is expensive to ship something as heavy as beer. I think we would all be best served if we first and foremost focused on our local communities.

Do you have a favorite Saint Arnold's Brew? if so what is it?

No, I don't have a favorite Saint Arnold beer overall, but any given evening, I certainly will be in the mood for one specific of our beers. With this heat, I have been consuming a lot of Summer Pils, but earlier in the summer it was Elissa. I will often finish the evening with an Amber Ale. And I always long for some Christmas Ale, although not usually when it's in the 90's outside, but I did enjoy having some off of our Christmas in July run. OK, so you see my issue.

If you aren't drinking Saint Arnold's what do you reach for?

There isn't one beer I look for other than Saint Arnold's. If I am someplace that doesn't serve Saint Arnold, I will get whatever the most interesting, flavorful beer there is, but it could be many different beers.

There you have it folks. Thanks so much to Brock for taking the time to answer a few questions. And for everyone else out there, have you hugged your brewmaster today? Happy International Brewer's Day everyone.

Boulevard Brewing Lunar Ale

OK, enough with the InBev deal, time to talk craft beer! Boulevard brewing Co is one of the newest craft beer makers to make its way to Texas (following hot on the heals of Oskar Blues, and leading the way for many many others). They are based out of Kansas City and were founded in 1989. I've heard a lot about them, so I was pretty excited to see their wares at my local Spec's. The packaging is unique as well. The bottles don't come in a traditional 6 pack container, instead come in a full box. A little bit of a waste of cardboard if you ask me, but I'm interested in whats in the box (or more specifically whats in the bottle inside the box). Lunar Ale is their brown ale offering, but its a pretty unique one in my mind. Its bottle conditioned and made with a lot of wheat malt, both unusual offerings for a brown ale.
The Beer: Now that we've been introduced lets get to know each other a little better. This one weighs in at 4.5% making it a perfect session beer. It pours a very hazy hazelnut brown color capped with a good thick taupe head. The hazy comes from the wheat used and it being bottle conditioned. The nose is fruity, bananas, pruney, some malts and little bit of floral notes. The mouth is wonderful. There's a nice thick mouthfeel, with a tart sourness on the tongue followed by malty, fruity, and yeasty notes. This is such a complex "basic" beer. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I feel that I could have multiple of these in one sitting and each beer would reveal itself in a different way. This one gets a very strong A from me. Seems like a lot of folks at BA don't agree with me.

InBev and A-B

Well it happened. It of course (unless you've been asleep under a rock) is the buyout of Anheuser-Busch by Belgian Super industrial brewing company InBev. The beer blogosphere and main stream media have written numerous stories in the last few days. I wanted to wait a couple of days, see folks reactions before posting my own thoughts. I've had a good time reading peoples comments to other stories and the response is pretty wide ranging. From "this is an outrage how can something so American be bought out" (whats more American than capitalism?) to "Great now maybe someone will make Bud taste good" (they won't, InBev hasn't done great things with Becks and Stella now have they?) and of course everything in between. Now here are my thoughts.
Is it in outrage that a Foreign country can buy an "American icon?" Well first of all let's discuss Bud as an American Icon. What many don't realize or are too lazy to look up is the fact that while A-B may have been run by the Busch family, they weren't necessarily owned by them. They were owned by shareholders, and they weren't all from the good ole U.S. of A, but instead represented people and companies from all over the world, so let's stop the nonsense of complaining about a foreign company buying out Bud. Bud was already owned by companies and people from foreign countries so whats the difference? The Busch family not running things? This is a loss? Now is Bud an American Icon? I guess you could lump them in the same category as McDonalds and Coke, but Icon's? Buying out small breweries, suing small breweries until they can't afford to run their businesses, buying out other breweries from around the world (sound familiar InBev?) and taking them over? That's not how I define an Icon.
As for the comments about InBev making Bud better, again this is nonsense. InBev isn't going to mess with the recipe of Budweiser, the same folks that brewed it yesterday will brew it tomorrow and the next day. Those aren't the employees that have to worry about their jobs. Unfortunately I'm sure that InBev will be consolidating things and that's the saddest part of this buyout.
Lastly, what does this mean for what we care about, Craft Beer? Well there are two thoughts, what I think will happen and what I hope happens. When the possible merger was first discussed I posted my original thoughts on the issue here. Let me expand a bit on my initial thesis. I still think this could be bad for craft brewers. The larger the company the more tentacles they have into distributorships, the more leverage they have. If they tell distributors to only carry their products, and they have a large inventory of said products then the distributor may be enticed to work exclusively with them. This limits the choice for the consumer. Along with the InBev/A-B merger you have MolsonCoors and SABMiller merging their North American Distributors. This means in North America you have two brewing companies controlling (for the most part) beer and its distribution. How does this help the consumer? I don't think it does and that frankly is a shame.
Now I don't want to end on a downer, so let's talk about what I HOPE will happen. Reading the comments to stories, I've seen a lot of folks talk about "well I won't drink Bud anymore, I want an American Beer". Let's forget for the moment that Bud will still be made in America and focus on what that comment can mean. It means people want to drink American. Hopefully that can mean local. For instance here in Texas, maybe people go from Bud to Shiner, and from Shiner to Saint Arnolds or Real Ale, or Southern Star as their taste buds are opened to better beer. Could this happen? Why not? Even if a small percentage of Bud drinkers turn away and switch to craft beer, it could be a HUGE swing in over all sales. Its a unique opportunity for small craft brewers, to tout the localness of their products. As for me, I haven't had a Bud in years and years, I'll keep drinking my craft beer and promoting it, and talking about it as much as I possibly can.
Thanks to Jay for this last little tidbit. Maybe craft brewing is already on the upswing.....with Bud now being owned by a foreign company who is the largest brewer (a company that actually brews beer not contracts it) in the country? Boston Beer Co maker of Sam Adams.

Newsy News Bits on Saint Arnold's

A quick post today just to share some fun information that Saint Arnold's put into their newsletter.

- First things first, Saint Arnold's is doing it again, Christmas in July. One of my favorite times of the year. They are releasing a limited amount of their Christmas beer this week in bottles and a few places will have it on tap. In its third year this is really starting to be a fun little tradition.

- Secondly and more impressively Saint Arnold's reports that their sales were up 30% for the first half of 2008. That's awesome and one more reason why they can go buy the new place and expand a little. Congratulations to Brock and the gang.

Two beers from a Business trip

My wife's business trip at that! My wife got back from a conference on the west coast recently and brought back two beers for me..what a great woman! Although from a well known brewer and one that I'm familiar with, I hadn't had either of this. The beers are Rogue's Brutal Bitter and Eugene City Brewing Triple Jump Pale Ale (also from Rogue Brewing)....hmm pale ale's! Needless to say it didn't take me very long to open these two bomber's up for a drink.
Brutal Bitter: Rogue describes this as an Imperial Bitter with 59 IBU's. The beer pours a cloudy orange capped with a thing off white head. Grapefruit and pine with a bit of earthiness is on the nose. There's also this lemon meringue scent that's really nice and then some toasty pale malts finish it off. The mouth is very bitter hops, its definitely in your face, but not quite to the point of being over the top. Its actually somewhat balanced, effervescent, citrusy, crisp and smooth. Very nice. This one gets a B from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.
Eugene City Brewing Triple Jump Pale Ale: As weird as it sounds I couldn't find much info on this beer. Both BA and Rogue list Eugene City's Tracktown IPA but not this one. Anyway this ones a fine one. Pours a hazy orange with a thick white heads. Hops grapefruit, a lot of citrus peel. The mouth is strongly hops, more than the previous, but doesn't get astringent which happens so often with these over hopped beers. This one is NICE. Great lacing, smooth, grapefruit, zest, creamy. I really liked this one. This on gets a B+ from me.

The Session # 18 Announcement

Fresh off our round up of the 17th Session, we get an announcement of the 18th. The host this month is the Barleyblog, the theme is Anniversary Beer. Here are the details:

Use this as an excuse to celebrate. Open a limited release anniversary beer from your favorite brewer. Enjoy that special beer you normally only open on your wedding anniversary or birthday. Either way, tell us about it. Why is it a beer you may only drink once a year? Why is that brewery’s annual release the one you selected?

Sounds fun, I might have one or two special beers laying around that I could break open. Due date? August 1 will be when every ones posts their take on this theme and shortly thereafter The Barleyblog will post a round up.

The Session Roundup

I thought this month's session was relatively inspired. With a great theme, and going back to a more beer-centric one is a plus in my book. Rob posted his round up a few days ago, and at least 28 (maybe more by now) joined in the fun. So head over to Pfiff and check out the round up. Check back in the next few days for the announcement of the next session.

The Session # 17: Drinking Anti-Seasonally

Its the 4th of July, so Happy Independence Day everyone. Its also the first Friday of the month which means its Session Time. This month the event is hosted by Rob Denunzio over at Pfiff! The theme this month is the Anti Seasonal. We all drink easy going session beers in the summer but every once in a while we have our guilty pleasures, big alcoholic hoppy, malty bombs, that frankly don't go well with the heat of the summer (especially if you live down here in Texas). As I've written about these past few weeks, there's not much better than a nice flavorful, easy drinking beer in this heat, but man (or woman of course) can not live by these beers alone. Nay I say, we must seek out this big flavorful robust beers, even if they don't make sense, our taste buds cry out for them. So it was with that mindset that I went to my recent Spec's seeking out something that's not a session beer, something with a little more PUNCH! What did I find? Well Rogue Russian Imperial Stout, definetely not seasonal, and definetely not some easy going session beer.
The Beer: This is Rogue's XS series so it shows up in a black ceramic bottle with a flip top closure. The beer pours a jet black with a tan colored head. the head reminded me of the crema in an esspresso. Malts are all over the nose, chocolate, burnt and roasty with just a bit of alcohol on the nose. The mouth is strong and bitter, very dry with a bit of dark bitter chocolate flavors. Very little fruit flavor left in the malt as this one is bitter, not from hops but from the burnt malts. Its a good RIS, not too strong of an alcohol flavor. With its dryness it would pair wonderfully with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla icecream so heck maybe this is a summer beer! The only complaint I have with the beer is its maybe a little too bitter from the malts....so this one gets a B- from me. Here's what the folks over at BA had to say.

Stay tuned Rob over at Pfiff will be posting a round up soon.

Texas Beer and Brew Pubs

Just a quick note today, but a good note nonetheless. Lee Nichols of the Austin Chronicle has an article out today on the Texas brewery scene. While noting that it has a long way to go to reach the epic standards set by Oregon, California, Colorado (and many others) acknowledges that the scene is growing and growing every day. The article does a really good job of touching on all the current breweries in Texas, their flagship beers and then the beers you ought to try. It touches on the brew pub scene in Texas (which outside of Austin is really lacking) before giving information on the breweries and brewpub's that are in work. As I've said before its an exciting time to be a Texas beer lover because the situation is only looking better.
Bonus plug for this article is a quote from your truly. Go check it out.

Two Beers from Flying Dog

I'm a huge fan of Flying Dog beers. When they were in Downtown Denver I went to the tour and tasting on multiple occasions, but just because they've moved across country to Maryland doesn't mean I like their beers any less. Walking through my local Spec's I came across Flying Dog's Sample Pack containing 5 different beers: Amber, Wheat, Pale Ale, Kolsch, and Porter. Well not quite...due to the archaic beer labeling laws in Texas we don't get the Porter, instead Flying Dog put their seasonal beer: Woody Creek White a Belgium Wheat Beer. I'm ok with that change (although I do need to try their Porter, heck and their new Triple). So in the process of trying good session beers I figured it would be fun to try two different wheat beers, one the Woody Creek, the other Flying Dog's In Heat Wheat a German style Hefeweizen.
The Beer: Woody Creek White: The beer weighs in at 4.8% abv, pouring a beautiful hazy cloudy gold capped with a thick white head. The nose is spicy, some banana notes, orange zest, spices, coriander. Great thick mouthfeel, really strong notes of citrus; oranges, lemon pie. Very thirst quenching and a great beer on a hot Texas day. This on gets a B+ from me.
The Beer: In-Heat Wheat: This one weighs in at 4.7% pours a good cloudy orange with a good dense head, a little thinner than I like, but its very dense. The nose is full of banana's and cloves. This is what I love in a good German Hefe. This is what is missing in most American Wheat beers so I'm extremely glad to see it here. As stated the nose is good, but not great, I'd like to see the banana and cloves to be a little stronger. Great mouthfeel, thick, good bananas, some citrus notes, just a bit of sourness. All in all a very solid wheat beer, this one gets a B from me.
More from Flying Dog to come as I make my way through their pack.

Siner 99: Helles Lager

Yes its been out a while, but I haven't had a good chance to post on this particular beer. But what better chance then now when I'm trying to highlight good solid session beers. This particular beer has been released celebrating Shiner's 99th Birthday. They've released a few others, two that I've posted on in the past. Unfortunately these have been pretty hit or miss, however one was such a hit that its turned into a regular offering in the form of Shiner Black. Now on to this beer, Shiner 99 a Helles Lager.
The Beer: This one pours a dark straw colored with a decently sized white head, that dissipates relatively quickly. Some hop notes in the nose along with some pale malts. The hops are the nice mild hallertau and that's evident on the nose. Not the big grapefruit you get from American hops and that's appropriate for this style. The mouth has some nice bitterness up front with a mild malty sweetness on the finish along with a mild spicy character. Good depth of mouthfeel, there's no thinness here, which was my complaint with Shiner 98. A mild beer with a good depth of flavor, smooth but with a good amount of carbonation. A very good solid offering from little Shiner, Texas. This one gets a solid B from me. Here's what the folks at BA have to say.

Book Review: Grape VS. Grain

Recently there seems to be a big push to write articles, books, etc comparing Beer and Wine. Specifically promoting how beer is wine's equal. Heck, a few months back, Dogfish Head's own Sam Calagione released such a book with sommelier Marnie Old titled He Said Beer, She Said Wine. This book specifically talking about food pairings. A good book, however a new one has been released recently that goes beyond food pairings and really dives into the differences between wine and beer and what makes beer wines equal (if not superior in many cases). The author of the book is Charles Bamforth who is the Chair of the Dept of Food Science and Technology and Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at U of Cal-Davis. I know that's a mouthful, but the point is, the guy knows beer and specifically brewing science. This book is not just beer vs. wine, but its purpose is to try and debunk myths of wine's superiority. His thesis I believe is the following quote of the book:

I [the author] seek to compare these two beverages on the basis of their history, technology, scientific and artistic appreciation, and impact on the body. To that extent, and reflecting on my professional speciality the theme of this book is primarily on of demonstrating how beer is a product of an excellence and sophistication to match wine, and I seek to do this my championing beer while being entirely fair to the other noble beverages.

A pretty noble thesis, and one that for the most part I feel he succeeded. The initial chapters discuss the components of wine and beer and then how each are created. This is really where the author hits his stride eloquently expressing how much more complex brewing is over wine making. The middle part of the book covers beer and wine quality and the various types. Nothing earth shattering here, covering things that most beer lovers will know (at least in regards to their favorite beverage). The last chapters of the book cover the health benefits of beer and the author ends on a high note here. Putting many studies all in one place he really does show that while there is nothing definitive on the health benefits of beer (nor truth be told is their of wine) beer is just as healthy as wine and does not deserve the derision it has received from various health nuts.
In conclusion, while many of the subjects within this book are covered in other places, the benefit of this book is capturing everything in one place while at the same time giving one something to fight back against your friendly oenophiles who tout the greatness and superiority of wine. This book gives one ample ammunition to fight back. There are periods of highly technical jargon that can bog down the reader, but over all its a fun and entertaining read. You will definitely learn something, if no more than how good and complex that glass of beer really is.

Local Breweries in the news

Houston is blessed with two breweries in the area. One is the oldest craft brewery in Texas and located in Houston, the other one is one of the newest breweries and is located North of Houston in Conroe. Both have been highlighted in local news outlets.
- First is this article in the Houston Chronicle on Saint Arnold's. Nothing really new other than after the big move next year Saint Arnold's will start holding tours during the week instead of just Saturday's.
- Secondly a feature from our local channel ABC 13 on the guys from Southern Star Brewing Company. Its nice to see a good feature on TV highlighting local craft beer.

Abita Strawberry Lager

Abita has always held a special place for me because along with Texas's own Shiner it introduced me to beers other than those from Bud, Miller, Coors. I went to university in Louisiana and was introduced to the greatness of dark beer with Turbodog, and fruity wheat beers with Purple Haze so I'm pretty familiar with Abita's regular lineup. However, last time I was in New Olreans, I was really surprised by the depth of their other beers Abita has released that never make it to the Houston area. Rumors have been that this is going to change and we are going to see more and more of Abita's other brews. Well it seems the rumors are true and I've seen their seasonal Abita Red (and Irish Red) and this one their Strawberry Lager.
The Beer: This one is a lager made with fresh local strawberry's (hint to TX Craft brewers: great idea to make a beer with fresh local fruit). The beer pours a very pale straw color with a pretty decent quarter inch bright white head. The nose is full of strawberry's along with lesser notes of hay, and lightly toasted bread. The mouth is full of carbonation, and an abundance of strawberry's with lesser notes of pale malts. There is no strawberry color, but the flavor is really there and brings a bit of tartness to the mouthfeel. Its a good beer. I'm not the biggest fan of fruit beers so unsurprisingly I'd liked to have seen some more lager-ish notes within the beer. Its a good crisp clean summer/spring beer. A decent session beer, because while not a potent beer, not sure how many of these I could drink in one sitting just due to the strawberry flavor and subsequent tartness. This one gets a B- from me. Here's what the folks over at BA think.

Session Beers

No this post is not about beers that I have talked about for the monthly Session. Instead I wanted to post on those beers that don't get a whole lot of love in the Beer Blogging universe. Those beers that are not high alcohol, high hops, high malt, heck high everything. These are not bombs of flavor, but relatively balanced flavors. Clean and crisp. Beers that you can have one, two, or even three in one sitting. These beers may not create conversation, but they don't get in the way of it either. They also happen to be beers that are perfect for a hot summer day in Houston. These are the pilsners, ambers, browns, etc that don't get the high rankings on Beer Advocate or other beer websites. I've come realize that while I drink these beers fairly often I have done a poor job of touting them and posting on them. That stops now. Over the course of the next few weeks I'm going to try and write up on as many of these tasty session beers as I can.
The first one just so happens to be local: Saint Arnold's Amber. While their Divine Reserve series is greatness, they also make some pretty solid every day brews.
The Beer: This is the definition of a session beer weighing in at 4.4%. It pours an orange amber color with a decent sized frothy white head. Notes of caramel, some floral hop notes (from the cascade hops used) and notes of copper. The mouth has bitter hops up front, smooth caramel notes at the finish. Great grilling beer and as with any session beer, great drinkability. My complaints would be that the beer is just slightly on the sweet side and I would have liked just a bit more effervescence. Other than that this is a fine beer and gets a solid B from me. Surprisingly the folks over at BA agree and give it pretty good marks

The Session #17 Announcement

Fresh off the round up from the Session 16 we get the announcement for this month's exciting event. For the uninitiated the Session is a monthly virtual beer testing, each hosted by a different blogger, and each with a different theme. On the first Friday of the month, after posting on that month's theme we send our posts to the host where they do a round up of all the tastings. Its a great time to learn about beers that I may never have had the opportunity to try.
With that, on to the anouncement. The host this month is Rob over at Pfiff a blog "about about tasting, brewing, history, culture, and general fermented grain goodness." Sounds like my kind of blog! The theme this month is Going against the Grain (or as I like to call it, the anti-season beer session). In his words:

Think of this as the unorthodox cousin of such topics as "beer and food" and "beer and music". Beer and weather, perhaps? More like beer despite the weather, I guess. Cracking open a Guinness on the beach, finishing a day of yardwork with a Speedway Stout, or whatever else you do that raises an eyebrow (again, beer-related, please), do us all a favor and take a few moments to share your non-conformist tale

Sounds fun, this is definitely one session that I'll be able to join in on rather enthusiastically. Due date is the first Friday of the July - the 4th. So go post and send them to Rob and he'll post his round up a few days later.

Some Big Saint Arnold's News

Fresh off their release of the fantastic Divine Reserve 6 Saint Arnold's put out a press release today concerning the future of their operations. From the Houston Business Journal it looks like Saint Arnold's will begin work on their new brewery starting next week. The new location is a 3 story facility built in 1914 located at 2000 Lyons Avenue. Saint Arnold's will have the capability to increase their output some 400%. While their current brewery has an output of 22,500 barrels the new place will have initial capabilities of 40,000 barrels with the possibility to expand to 120,000. HOLY CRAP, that's a lot of Divine Reserve. Another neat fact is that the new brewery will feature a new brewhouse purchased from a now defunct brewery in an old German Monastery. How cool is that.
I think this will be HUGE, not only for Saint Arnold's but for the city of Houston as this new brewery is much closer to downtown. If all goes as planned the opening of the new brewery will coincide with Saint Arnold's 15th Anniversary next June.
Personally I see only an upside here, as long as Saint Arnold's continues the steady expansion and doesn't try to move to fast, they should be able to keep up with demand while continuing to brew excellent and high quality beers. Great Job Brock and Co.

Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve 6

Well its been a LONG time coming, but the time has arrived. Saint Arnold's released their 6th Divine Reserve today and it just so happened that my local Spec's had some. I was able to quickly run by and grab a couple of six packs right after work (the beer guy there already reported they had gone through 6 cases in 90 minutes). This one is going to go FAST. As for the beer itself? I'll let Saint Arnold's founder Brock Wagner describe it:

This is a big, malty, hoppy barleywine. Yet all of the intense flavors meld together to create a well-balanced big beer. The nose has a strong resiny hop note. The taste starts with a combination of the malty sweetness and spicy hops with both flavors magnified by the high alcohol level. The spiciness carries through the middle and finishes with a satisfyingly dry bitter. It was brewed with 2 row pale, Caramunich and Special B malts with brown sugar added in the kettle and hopped with 225 lbs of Columbus hops including 44 lbs that were dry hopped. We used our Saint Arnold yeast strain which gives a rich, creamy mouthfeel to the brew. It is unfiltered and will clarify with aging.

225 lbs of hops? In this day and age of hop shortage? That's crazy talk. Well needless to say I couldn't wait very long to taste this one, so as soon as I got home today I had to try it.
The Beer: Poured the beer into a nice snifter glass, it weighs in at 10% and pours a cloudy brown amber with a nice taupe colored head. The nose is all hops here, full of citrus and piney notes with just a hint of caramel. The mouth unsurprisingly is more of the same; HOPPY, major grapefruit notes along with strong piney resin notes. However as hoppy as this bomb of a beer is its well balanced with a nice caramel malty sweetness, and vanilla notes. This one is extremely complex, but unexpectedly smooth and balanced. While a big powerful beer there is not a noticeable alcohol flavor. With the beer being unfiltered I think it gives it an almost chewy quality, which creates a nice textural experience. This ones a keeper, and while not as good as the amazing DR5, this one is damn good. It gets an A- from me. It seems like the folks over at BA agree.

The Session 16 Roundup: Beer Festivals

Dang that sure did sneak up on me. I completely forgot that last Friday was the first one of the month, meaning its Session time. I had forgotten because I've been in Florida this past week or so due to a wedding. A quick aside and no offense to anyone from Florida, but I was extremely disappointed in the beer scene there. I was in Orlando and its surrounding areas, but I couldn't find any place to get great beer. I stuck with Yueling (which isn't bad at all) but that's about as good as I could find. Anyways back to the Session. This month's theme was Beer Festivals and the hose was the Geistbear Brewing Blog. So head over there for his post on the round up.